Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal
by Endless Road
Summary: A few years after Ash suddenly disappears, the whole world is in chaos. Pandemonium reigns supreme, and everything is on the verge of extinction. Is there any way it can be saved from its fate, and what will it require? CHAPTER 3 UP
1. Prologue, Chapter 1: Prediction

**Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal**

Fanfiction by Sung-Min Kwon. © 2005

The following story is in no way affiliated to Nintendo, GameFreak, Creatures Inc., or 4Kids Productions. This is solely a work of the aforementioned individual and his runaway imagination.

* * *

**Prologue, Chapter 1: Prediction**

A time.

A time will come.

A time will come for the world to end.

A gate.

A gate will open.

A gate will open to connect time and places.

A war.

A war will ensue.

A war will ensue between good and evil.

A place.

A place will become.

A place will become a bloody battlefield.

A hero.

A hero will arise.

A hero will arise to stop the war.

A decision.

A decision will take place.

A decision will take place, one to the world.

A sacrifice.

A sacrifice will be made.

A sacrifice will be made for mankind eternal.

A power.

A power will be released.

A power will be released to end the war.

A world.

A world will be reborn.

A world will be reborn upon its old ashes.

A prophecy.

A prophecy will be fulfilled.

A prophecy will be fulfilled, and another will be made.

* * *

Coming Up Next on Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal

_It was a perfectly normal day._

_In the dining room of the Ketchums' residence in Pallet Town, a group of people were happily gathered around a circular table...

* * *

_

Hey, what's up? Welcome to Sacrifice Eternal. You're about to be treated to one grand-scale Pokémon Fanfiction. As for the genre of this story... I really have no idea as of yet! But it's going to include lots of _Action/Adventure_ elements, as well as themes of _Romance_ later on. In some places, you will be able to see some traces of _Supernatural_ stuff, too. And this whole story will have a mood of _Angst_, or this is how calls it, anyway.

However, I prefer to classify this under "Dark Pokémon Fanfiction," largely inspired from Pokémon Master by Ace Sanchez, a landmark work of literature in my opinion (by the way, if you haven't read it, smack yourself for not having done so yet, and read it at !) Indeed, if the two stories are to be compared, there are lots of similarities. Since I have previously acknowledged the considerable influence of Pokémon Master, anything that may be considered similar should not be counted as plagiarism.

That being said, I apologize for the vague first chapter, which may (or may not) leave you hanging. However, I will guarantee that everything in the prophecy will be carried out during some time in the story. Thanks for reading, and please review!!! Reviews of all kinds are welcome, even including flames, as long as it is constructive criticism that can help improve this story. Keep watching, and I will try to make frequent updates. Thank you again.

-ENDLESS ROAD-


	2. Prologue, Chapter 2: Celebration

**Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal**

Fanfiction by Sung-Min Kwon. © 2005

The following story is in no way affiliated to Nintendo, GameFreak, Creatures Inc., or 4Kids Productions. This is solely a work of the aforementioned individual and his runaway imagination.

* * *

**Prologue, Chapter 2: Celebration**

It was a perfectly normal day.

In the dining room of the Ketchums' residence in Pallet Town, a group of people were happily gathered around a circular table.

A brown-haired girl clad in a red handkerchief cap, red shirt, and navy shorts was searching inside her small knapsack for something. After some rummaging, she pulled out a picture with a triumphant smile on her face. She held it up for everyone to see.

A boy with straight black hair held up by a red headband and wearing a green T-shirt took the picture and examined it closely. Suddenly, he burst into laughter, uninterrupted until his headband came undone and covered his mouth.

A girl wearing suspenders above a yellow tank top started laughing at the previous boy. It really was a funny sight, for he found that the headband covered his nose and his mouth, impairing his ability to breathe. He undid the headband hastily, and handed the picture to the girl with orange hair tied to one side. She laughed even harder, pointing at the picture and making futile efforts to cover her mouth. She was laughing so hard that her blue eyes were starting to water.

A boy with brown hair and a blue cap looked at the picture, and started laughing as well. With probably a bit of theatrics involved, he fell out of his chair, and continued laughing, beating the ground with his fists and feet. His whole body was quaking with laughter, and tears were coming out of his eyes already.

A black-haired boy wearing a red-and-white cap and blue apparel came out from the restroom. As soon as the four at the table saw him, they pointed fingers at him and started laughing harder than before. The boy first wore a countenance of confusion, then one of panic as he realized what they were laughing at. In a lightning-quick movement, he ran to the table, and snatched the picture out of the orange-haired girl's hands. His expression changed to one of horror as his worst fears were confirmed. As he stood there, dumbfounded, the brown-haired girl took the picture out of his hands and showed it to everyone again. Another round of laughter rang throughout the dining room.

Another boy with spiky black hair and brown-gray clothing came out of the kitchen. He donned an apron and a chef's hat, and was carrying a platter of what seemed to be a giant fried chicken drenched in rich teriyaki sauce with pineapple pieces and cherries circling the outer edge. On the other side of the platter, a red lobster was boiled and peeled, its rich fragrance mixing with the scent of exquisite spices. In his other hand, there was a tray of many kinds of side dishes. The dishes included steaming mashed potatoes with gravy on top, pasta salad with pink shrimp and mussel, orange slices of raw salmon topped with lemon juice and horseradish, and creamy Boston clam chowder. Most people could only dream of even seeing food like that in the finest restaurants, much less eat it.

Everyone's eyes turned and they started drooling, looking at the delicious meal that they were going to soon dig into, except for that of the boy with the red-and-white cap. He was looking at the chef's eyes like a puppy would, although those horizontal lines on the latter's face could barely be called eyes. The chef smiled, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Sorry, Ash. But that picture was just too good to keep to myself." Although his words sounded like an apology, the huge grin on his face belied his true emotions. The others started laughing yet again, and the boy's face turned beet red, even redder than the color of the lobster on the platter.

The boy thought he could hear the lobster pointing at him with his claw and snickering, although he knew well that it was dead and boiled. His face turned a darker shade of red, if that was even possible.

* * *

Ash lay in his bed that night, thinking about what had happened. 

His friends had come from afar to celebrate his 15th birthday.

Brock had asked his father to take care of the Pewter City Gym for a few days, and arrived two days ago. Since then, he had been helping Mrs. Ketchum out with cooking. Ash suspected that Brock was also acting on his crush on her. But could he be blamed? It was a fact that both Mrs. Ketchum and Brock were talented cooks. It was also true that his mother was very attractive, and most people would not know that she was Ash's mother without being told. At first sight, she could be mistaken for somebody as young as Misty's oldest sister Daisy.

Speaking of her sisters, Misty had presumably asked them to come back from their unceasing world tour and watch over the Cerulean City Gym for her. However, they, as always, would probably ignore it, still not wanting to treat the "runt" as a Waterflower sister.

Anyhow, Misty came yesterday, and had made herself at home already. She played with Pikachu a lot, giving Ash a long-deserved break from the unending jolts that he had received.

When Ash was training Pikachu in the northern plains separating Pallet Town and Viridian City, he accidentally crossed paths with Richie yesterday. At first, Ash thought that he was hallucinating and seeing a double of himself, but realized it was his greatest rival and friend soon enough. As the two boys shook hands, the two Pikachu likewise held paws and danced together.

May had come today and apologized for being late, saying that she had to fill in for her father at the Petalburg City Gym until he got back yesterday from a trip to the Indigo League. She didn't bring Max along, because he would be attending school from this year.

Ash was actually somewhat glad, because the little kid could annoy everyone out of their shoes with his extensive knowledge on Pokémon, rivaling even that of Professor Oak. Things would be considerably quieter around here.

Tracey was always around in Pallet Town. Professor Oak, knowing that today was Ash's birthday, had let Tracey off work go for the celebration. The aged professor also came soon enough, probably to flirt with Mrs. Ketchum again. However, as in the case with Brock, the professor could not be blamed.

It had actually been quite a while since Ash saw Tracey, with the former being out for training almost everyday, and the latter always in some deep, inaccessible corner of Professor Oak's laboratory. The two greeted each other with genuine sincerity.

Everyone was present, and the party was ready to start.

The initial celebration consisted of many activities, beginning with the event previously mentioned. After that, Ash's mom carted in a huge multi-layer birthday cake that could barely go through the kitchen door, and brought it in front of everyone. Because the cake was so big, it took a long time to light the candles.

After making his wish while the others were singing the birthday song in unison, Ash blew out all of the fifteen candles amidst loud whoops and cheers. However, something totally unexpected happened; he accidentally blowing some icing on Misty's face in the process.

Her expression changed from blankness to shock to anger to playfulness, as she grabbed a piece of the cake and threw it at Ash. But it missed and hit Tracey's face. Meanwhile, Ash threw another piece of the cake, missing the intended target and smacking Professor Oak's lab coat.

Before long, everyone was taking the cake apart and having a food fight, making a mess in the kitchen. Pikachu had to shock everyone to get everyone to stop, and that didn't occur before two-thirds of the colossal cake was scattered throughout the room. Making no efforts to clean up, everyone started laughing again after looking at each other's cream-caked faces, some of which were barely recognizable as human.

The next activity consisted of an "adulthood speech" by Ash, who was forced to do it impromptu. Dripping with cake and mouth full of it, he delivered a short but memorable speech, propounding the virtues of his newfound "responsibility" and seemed to occasionally hint for an increase in his allowance.

He concluded the speech by starting another round of cake throwing. The second food fight did not end for a while, with everyone reusing masses of cake for what seemed like hours. Finally, as exhaustion overtook the food fighters, they parted ways.

Everyone, except for Ash and his mother, would sleep in Professor Oak's laboratory for the night and leave in the morning. Of course, the group would undoubtedly do something else fun before scattering.

After arriving home, Ash took a long shower to rid himself of the cake, which seemed to be everywhere. He found some in his hair, some in his ear, and some even in his underwear.

Smiling, he imagined what Mrs. Ketchum would preach to him about the importance of clean underwear.

Ash lay in his bed that night, thinking about what had happened.

* * *

Yesterday, Misty had told him that for some people, their 15th birthday marks a special change in their lives. 

He wanted to see if it was true. He woke up early in the morning, and anxiously waited for 6:48 AM, the exact time of his delivery one-and-a-half decades ago. With fifteen seconds left, his heart started beating noticeably faster.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

With ten seconds left, he took a gulp.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

With five seconds left, he involuntarily closed his eyes, not knowing what he was bracing for.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

He covered his ears.

Tick.

6:48 AM.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Ash cautiously opened his eyes. He seemed to be in the exact same place that he had been. He didn't seem to have grown any additional appendages. He didn't seem to be deranged of mind or anything like that.

In short, Ash didn't seem to be any different from how he had been. He let out a sigh of relief, because he liked his life just the way it was right now.

He wished he could live like this forever; he wanted to live with all of his friends nearby, even Gary. He wanted to live with his Pokémon nearby. He wanted nothing to change, although a voice in the back of his mind kept telling him that everything has to change.

Perhaps he wasn't one of those people whose lives drastically changed on their 15th birthday. He wished he wasn't, anyway. He decided to sleep on those thoughts until his mother would wake him up at eight o'clock. He drifted off into a sleep considerably deeper than the one he had during the night.

* * *

Ash smiled as he looked back on the events of this crazy day. Yes, it was a very crazy day, but it was also the best birthday party he had. This was really the first party in which his close friends had troubled themselves to show up. He was grateful to everyone for coming, and especially thankful to Brock and Mrs. Ketchum for preparing such wonderful food. Heck, he was even thankful that Gary had showed up just to give him a friendly loser sign. 

He was wondering of what good luck would befall him the next morning, and was imagining of all the fun things he could do around here. Ahh, everyone here could go fishing on the south shores, exploring in the northern plains, or play with his Pokémon at Professor Oak's laboratory. He wished that every day would be his birthday, his house always being full of people that he either knew or met for the first time.

Well... on second thought, maybe having 365 birthdays a year would get boring after a while; he just contented his desires at one birthday per month. He was already making plans for next year's birthday party, when his train of thought ran off-track because of a noise.

He heard a loud crash, the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. He looked at the window to see small glass particles showering the windowsill like snow. Then he heard a clunk outside his window.

Even though the moon was almost completely behind clouds today, Ash could see a shadow creeping toward the broken window.

* * *

Coming Up Next on Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal

_He knew he wasn't dreaming this; someone would have to be downright crazy to dream like this. His fears became reality as he saw a shadowy figure jump through the open window..._

_The eyes of the figure made Ash's blood stop. Those red slits for eyes... he was sure that the figure was not human...

* * *

_

**Farla (Ch.1)** – I appreciate your comment. There are some things that I don't understand, though. I can see why some don't want to be left looking at only vague evidence, and I reviewed the rules and saw that my first post may arouse a bit of controversy. However, I do not understand why the posting of a "teaser" has anything to do with cluttering up the category. And technically speaking, the first post _was_ the first chapter, probably one of the most important chapters there will be. But you may see it in other ways. As I said, I thank you for your constructive criticism, although I do wish that you would have made your message clearer. NEW REVIEWER

**The Name (Ch.1)** – Hey, SH. That impatient side of you got the better of you this time, eh? I have some advice for you - learn to wait for once. I just posted this chapter, which should get you satisfied for now. This will be similar to the story I attempted to write eighteen months ago, you know, the one that you reviewed for favorably. Things will move a little slower this time, though, so you better get used to it. Anyway, thanks for the, uh... criticism anyway. Cya l8er... NEW REVIEWER

* * *

Hey, what's up? Welcome back to Sacrifice Eternal. The beginning of this story may confuse you, almost as much as it confused me when I first wrote it! And I apologize for presenting another cliffhanger. But it will be resolved in the next chapter, which will include some violence. Thanks for reading, and please remember to REVIEW after reading! As said before, all reviews are welcome, including constructive criticism. 

-ENDLESS ROAD-


	3. Prologue, Chapter 3: Conflagration

**Pokémon Fanfiction: Sacrifice Eternal**

Fanfiction by Sung-Min Kwon. © 2005

The following story is in no way affiliated to Nintendo, GameFreak, Creatures Inc., or 4Kids Productions. This is solely a work of the aforementioned individual and his runaway imagination.

* * *

**Prologue, Chapter 3: Conflagration**

He knew he wasn't dreaming this; someone would have to be downright crazy to dream like this. His fears became reality as he saw the shadowy figure jump through the open window. Surprisingly, he heard nothing but a soft "thump" as the figure landed. Either that figure was a lot lighter than it looked, or it really knew how to sneak into places. Well, on second thought, it wasn't too good, considering it shattered a window and woke somebody up.

Ash watched the figure silently from his bed. He made efforts to breathe as softly as possible, but not too softly as to give him away. But the shadow seemed to pay no attention to him; it just went in a straight line from the window to the open door.

After the figure passed halfway through the door, the tension that hung over the room lifted. Ash knew that he was not the victim. He then released his breath that he was holding, a bit louder than he would have wanted to.

That surely gave him away. The shadowy figure suddenly stopped in mid-stride, and seemed to look in his direction.

The eyes of the figure made Ash's blood stop. Those red slits for eyes... he was sure that the figure was not human.

It would have been scared anyone to watch a shadow with red eyes make an advance. Ash was ready to yell out for help. The figure, in reality, was about 10 feet away, but to a frightened Ash, it seemed to be upon him already.

However, his eyes were now on a different part of a shadow. The moon had peeked out from behind the clouds only a tiny bit, and one part of the shadow gave off an evil reflection of the light. That glare was faint, but had an air of danger about it.

Ash's breathing increased as he realized that the shadowy figure was wielding a weapon, probably some sort of dagger, judging by its length. That blade would hurt a lot if it was driven into someone's body, especially his own.

There would be lots of blood and gore... he didn't want to imagine it.

He corrected himself on one thing. The figure could not be called "not too good" when it woke Ash up. That was under the criteria of just a robber. The figure, in terms of someone who had intent to kill, was "very, very bad" in skill.

However, this new realization did not stop Ash from taking in the situation with surprising impartiality. He was lying in bed and was in light blue pajamas. He, as far as anyone was concerned, had no weapons of any kind, and had even left his Pokéballs at Professor Oak's lab. His lifelong pal Pikachu was with Misty tonight. So he had no means of defending himself from, much less fighting, his opponent.

His opponent, on the other hand, seemed to have the upper hand. Although Ash couldn't make anything out, any person should have been able to see that gleaming dagger in the left hand of that figure. The dagger shone evilly with a lust, with a desire to kill. In addition, those red eyes of the figure certainly didn't seem to make him any friendlier. Those eyes and the dagger were getting closer to Ash with every step the figure took. No matter how conspicuous of an entrance the figure made into his room, the truth was, it would emerge victorious.

Things certainly weren't looking very good, and Ash knew he should not be in bed when he knew that this figure was going to kill him. But his body was paralyzed with fear; he could not even feel his fingers or toes.

He just stayed still until the figure really was upon him, unable to do anything. The figure looked down at Ash for a moment, making his blood run cold. The figure then raised its dagger, its point aimed at the victim's heart. Ash tried to scream, as an animal does instinctively just before it is butchered. Nothing came out of his open mouth, though, and the dagger started making its descent.

Ash knew he had less than a second to live.

Whoosh.

* * *

He felt the weapon enter his body, and was surprised by the fact that there was no pain. Just a bit of stuffiness in his chest, really.

He was dead wrong. The pain followed very soon after.

It came so suddenly that Ash really did start to holler in pain. But immediately, something soft was brutally put into his mouth to muffle the noise, and Ash recognized it as the socks he wore the night before from the distinct smell of floor polish.

As the shadowy figure started to turn away from the bed, Ash's field of vision started to blur. His head was spinning circles in three different directions simultaneously, and his body seemed to be fading away from him.

He had expected this to hurt, and it did hurt. However, the pain was somewhat unexpected of what should have been a killing blow. The numbing sensation that was overcoming him was surprisingly pleasant. If this was death, he felt that no one would have any fear of it.

As he hastily made his final wishes, he surrendered to the numbing sensation. However, as he was trying to succumb to death, the numbing sensation started to disappear, being replaced rapidly by an excruciating pain in his chest. It seemed as if his body's natural painkillers had previously masked the agony that he was facing now, and were now starting to go away.

This time, the pain was real. So this was how it felt like to die. He felt as if a cavernous hole had been drilled into his chest. He also felt as if all of his appendages had been amputated; he couldn't feel them at all.

The sensation reached a point so painful that Ash suddenly jerked himself up out of bed, unable to lie still any longer.

Things wouldn't have been too messy, if the point of the dagger hadn't pierced his body and laid a firm hold into the mattress on which he had been sleeping. The dagger evidently liked being with the mattress more than with him, because as Ash got up, the point of the dagger remained where it was, embedded in the bed. The handle and hilt of the dagger also stayed in its exact position in space, passing through the wound in his chest as Ash got up and leaving a giant two-way hole in his body.

If the initial stab had been painful, this was killing. He now felt the blood from inside his chest rush out of both sides of the wound and drench his clothes and sheets. So THIS was how it felt like to die. Ash's sock flew out of his mouth as he let out a scream of pure pain and raw terror, as well as seething anger.

The shadowy figure was still in the room, and its red slits of eyes seemed to narrow even more as it noticed that its victim was still alive and kicking. It started walking towards him, probably to kill again.

* * *

When Ash saw the figure advancing towards him, his pain was pushed behind momentarily, probably his adrenaline kicking in. He stood up, surprising even himself. Although it hurt even to stand there, let alone move, Ash wasn't about to be killed like this.

With the instincts of an animal, he made a rush at the shadowed figure. If he even had the slightest thought of the situation, he would have reconsidered this action. He had no weapon, no protective layers of clothing, and no reasonable method of overcoming his enemy. All he had was a giant bloody hole in his chest and plenty of anger.

But someone in anger does not require a reasonable way of thinking. Rage, by itself, can become an effective weapon. The saying, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," came to Ash's mind as he ran at his foe.

Just like how the shadowy figure made a gaping hole in Ash's chest, Ash wanted to do the same by punching a hole through the figure's chest.

Everyone says that an angry person is many times as dangerous as a normal person; Ash was, then, probably hundreds of times as dangerous. Before the figure had a chance to move, Ash's fists struck the torso of the figure with demonic agility, something that would not have been any slower than a teleporting Abra.

Even though Ash couldn't do the exact thing as what he had suffered, he did hear a sickening crunch as the figure collapsed. That sound could only be that of shattering ribs.

Although he did manage to hurt his enemy, Ash was still angry. He jumped up as high as he could, getting some impressive hang time. When he felt he was coming down, he stretched his legs out, and aimed them at the figure, which was sprawled on the floor on its back. Ash's feet landed on the exact same place where he had struck moments ago with the two-handed punch.

He heard another crunch, although not as loud as before. This time, he literally felt ribs collapsing under his weight. Not liking the feeling too much, he quickly stepped off his enemy, who was now wheezing like crazy.

His foe's broken ribs seemed to have punctured his lungs. Although it wasn't very pleasant to think about, things could have gone worse. He was still alive and breathing, even though Ash didn't think he would last for more than a few minutes at this rate.

Now that his physical ordeal was over, Ash began his mental ordeal. His mind was swimming, trying to take in the facts, although that was hard with the adrenaline starting to wear off and the pain in his chest returning.

With his bare hands, he had defeated an armed figure. No, it was more of an armed assassin, sent to kill him.

No, he hadn't just merely defeated it; he had crushed its upper body twice, cracking ribs and puncturing organs.

He shuddered at the thought, and could not bear to look at the remains of the dying figure. He also flinched from the growing pain in his chest.

He had killed somebody!

He had killed somebody, and in a pretty gruesome way, too.

None of his friends, or even his mother for that matter, would be able to accept having a murderer as a friend or son, although it resulted from an act of self-defense from certain assassination.

How could he have killed somebody? He had always thought that he loved life, no matter good or bad. He knew that he was going to regret this for a long time.

He was trying to be remorseful for his actions, but he found that he could not focus his thoughts. Strength was dissipating from his body as his chest pain seemed to be killing him.

Ash Ketchum collapsed face first, blood still flowing out of the open wound.

* * *

Ash Ketchum slowly came to his senses, after what seemed like hours.

The first thing he noticed was that he had a monster headache. The headache was so bad that he couldn't even feel the pain in his chest.

He looked around his surroundings. He seemed to be in his room, which was now covered with blood. In fact, he could see a wide trail of blood leading from his bed to where he was now.

Ash did not know that there was so much blood in his body, and still some left to keep him alive. He had learned in biology class that there was only about one quart of blood in the human body.

He saw another pool of blood, by the torso of the figure that was now dead. Yes, there was no way the figure could not be dead, after what it had been through.

Wait... if Ash could see things like this clearly, the sun must have risen some time ago. Yes, it was true; a faint orange light was rising to the east, welcoming another new day.

He let out a sigh of relief. He thought he would surely be dead, unable to watch another sunrise. Nothing really mattered now; he was alive, alive and fine, except for a big gaping hole in his body that still bled like crazy...

As he plucked up the courage to look down at his chest wound, he was surprised.

There was no wound.

His chest was as fine as ever, perhaps even in better condition than it was before. The wound had completely healed over, as he could not see even a scar. He ran his fingers over where the wound used to be, unbelieving.

This really confused Ash. He was sure that he had a huge wound just a few hours ago, one that caused him so much pain as to pass out. Now it was gone without a trace.

He pinched himself really hard to make sure that he was not in some sort of dream. There was no way it could be real! There was... it was... real, all right.

The more he tried to understand how something like this happened, the more confused he became.

After much failure, he just decided to leave that a mystery.

The important thing was that he was now alive and well.

He decided to change his clothes and take another shower before deciding what to do next. He needed to clear his head.

He made his way toward his closet to get some new clothes. On the way, however, something outside his window caught his eye and made him stop.

As soon as he noticed what it was, his eyes widened in shock.

Fire.

Red, evil fire.

The warm orange light that he had been bathed in was not the light of the rising sun; it was the light of a massive fire.

He did not like those red tongues of fire that danced against the pitch-black night.

What was more, the conflagration was spreading rapidly throughout Pallet Town, with his house being one of the next targets.

With no second thoughts about anything, Ash ran out of the room and towards the stairs.

As soon as he opened his bedroom door, though, he started to cough because of heavy smoke.

The fire was already here! He could see those flickering flames at the bottom of the stairs, bound to make its way up to his room in a matter of seconds.

Slamming the door shut, Ash ran across his room, and jumped through the open window.

He landed safely on all fours outside of his house, and did not turn to look. He knew that the place he had just jumped off was now enveloped in flames. Instead, he looked forward, searching for an escape route.

He remembered that there was a bridge out of Pallet Town on the other side of his house, one that connected it to the mainland.

When he made his way around his burning house, however, he saw that the fire had come to his house via that bridge. Needless to say, that bridge was falling apart.

Everything was burning around him, and conflagration was making its way toward him at an alarmingly fast rate.

Buildings were being razed down to the ground, and burning pieces of wood were falling everywhere.

An evil orange glow was in the air, and Ash wondered if this was how hell was like.

Just when he thought he would have to jump through the wave of oncoming fire and risk his life, he caught something in his peripheral vision.

There was a small alley that was slow to catch fire. There was a chance he could escape through there.

In addition, the old alley was lined with stone buildings, which would not catch fire easily. It would be safe, as long as the stone buildings didn't collapse on Ash.

If there was a chance, even a small chance, he knew he would have to take it. The wave of fire was rushing at him even as he thought.

He zigzagged to avoid burning houses, and ran through the alley. It was relatively safe, but it was not fireproof. He could feel the fire slowly penetrating the defense of the old stone alley.

At the end of the alley, he turned left, toward the other bridge that connected Pallet with the mainland.

That was his last chance of escape.

As he turned right, with a loud crack, a burning piece of wood fell inches away from his foot.

Had he taken one more step, he would only have lost his left foot, and would have lost the rest of his body soon after.

Out of fear, he jumped over the piece of wood and ran faster and faster, turning right again to get to the bridge.

As soon as he turned the corner, he stopped abruptly. He saw that this bridge was ablaze, too.

Pallet Town was located on a small island on a river, and was connected to the Kanto mainland only by the means of two bridges.

Now that both bridges were out, he was trapped on this burning island.

When he turned around, he saw the fire rapidly advancing on him.

It was almost as if the fire was following him wherever he went, wanting to consume him. It was a monster whose hunger could never be satisfied, and would continue to destroy everything in its path.

Now he had only one choice, something that no one in their sane mind would ever try to do.

But Ash was not in a sane state of mind now; he needed to survive. He would have been lucky to even be in a state of mind in that situation.

Pallet Town, being on an island, was surrounded by the waters of the Viridian River which emptied into Twin Bay a dozen miles downriver.

The Viridian River was unusual. Considering how wide it was, the water was not murky, but cold and clear. In addition, it flowed rapidly at a pace faster than those of most streams.

For the inhabitants of Pallet Town, the river seemed to be a blessing. The water from the river served all of this town's needs, being as clean as distilled water.

But to Ash Ketchum, the river seemed to be a curse of the worst kind at this exact moment.

The only means of escape that he could take now was a plunge into the moving body of water. But that way of escape might lead him to a premature death just as well.

Jumping into the river, for one, would earn one respect as well as a reputation of extreme stupidity. One would be lucky to jump into the river and not catch hypothermia immediately, with the temperatures being at a mere few degrees above freezing point.

And once in the river, it was almost impossible to get out. The water near the banks did not flow so quickly, but the wide current in the middle did. The current was aptly nicknamed "the black hole."

No wonder this river was a world-renowned spot for committing suicide. The cold temperature would numb the senses, and the quickly flowing river would almost certainly claim victims by dashing them against rocks. It would be a painless death.

This was the main reason that Pallet Town had built low walls against the river, to make sure that no one went near it.

To the residents of Pallet Town, the river was a blessing, but a curse if misused.

To Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, he could see no way how the river could be a blessing to him now.

But as he turned around, he realized that this was the only chance that he had to live.

The evil tongues of the fire were almost upon him now, not even a dozen feet behind him.

He could feel the heat of the fire, and it was almost unbearable. It was as if the fire was daring him to jump in the river.

Taking a deep breath, Ash jumped off the edge of the wall and dived into the river.

The fire overtook the wooden wall that Ash had been standing on just a few seconds ago.

* * *

The surface of the Viridian River only rippled from Ash's jumping into the water.

As for Ash himself, he was nowhere to be seen.

After what seemed like minutes, Ash's head emerged about two hundred feet downriver from where he had entered, followed by flailing arms. He was moving at an extremely fast speed, being caught in the current.

Ash knew that he would not last long on this treacherous river dotted with huge boulders.

Frankly, he was surprised that he was even alive as of now.

All of his thoughts skidded to a stop as he saw that he was heading straight into a boulder the size of a Snorlax.

He somehow remembered the most important safety precaution in a situation like this, from his Boy Scouts handbook. "Feet First, and Arms Tucked In," and he proceeded to follow it. He braced himself for oncoming impact.

Moments later, his feet hit something very hard. Ash grabbed onto the rock for dear life, even as the rapid river seemed to poke his back with invisible needles.

He could hold onto the rock, but he couldn't last forever in this frigid water. He waited for the current to lessen, so that he might have a chance of swimming to the other side of the river and getting on dry land.

After a while, the stinging at his back seemed to weaken somewhat. Taking this as a cue, Ash pushed his legs off the boulder and started to swim.

It was one of the biggest mistakes he had made.

The current got weaker, only because it met resistance from the boulder that Ash had been clinging to. Now that he was in the open water again, he could not fight the current.

He made a few futile efforts to swim, all while avoiding any rocks on the way.

Ash was thinking that this was not such a bad way to die, either. It was a lot less painless than what had happened to him hours earlier in his bed.

Ah, yes... a painless, calm death. He thought this as he saw a waterfall a few hundred feet ahead. When his brain fully registered the waterfall, he suddenly panicked.

Painless and calm? What kind of idiot thought that dying in the river would be painless and calm?

Ash realized too late that he was going to go over the edge of the waterfall. Some unknown source of strength seemed to be supplying him, as he somehow broke out of the deathly current.

However, he broke out of it too late. After he had escaped from the current, he could see the edge waterfall right in front of him.

Knowing he would be over the edge in a matter of milliseconds, Ash's hands flailed out to hold onto anything.

Miraculously, Ash's bullet-like trip down the river suddenly stopped, as his hands found something to grab. The sudden change made him dizzy, as his brains still seemed to be traveling at the speed of the river.

He saw what he was holding in his hand. For the umpteenth time, he was shocked.

He was holding the top of a small sapling that grew out from the side of a vertical cliff.

With his weight and the speed of the river combined, not even a thick rope should have been able to prevent him from falling over the edge and down the waterfall.

Just as he was thinking, his weight finally seemed to take its toll on the young plant, as he could feel it being slowly uprooted.

If he held on any longer, he would certainly go over the edge, along with the sapling.

Out of pure panic, Ash yanked on the plant as a handhold, and started to scale the vertical cliff.

Like an ant at work, he scurried up the first half of the cliff at an inhuman speed, and didn't stop until he could get a comfortable foothold.

At about the halfway point, he looked down. Although he didn't have fear of heights, he thought he would throw up when he saw just how high he was.

Judging from the width of the river, he estimated that he had climbed a good three hundred feet so far. By looking up, he saw that he still had a good two hundred feet more to scale.

But if he happened to accidentally slip and let go... No, he didn't want to think about that.

Trying not imagine how many ways he could be killed down a waterfall, he started climbing the cliff again, this time at a slower pace.

When he could see the top of the cliff clearly, he was somewhat relieved, and let his guard down a bit.

That proved to be another big mistake.

He lost his footing, and began sliding down the cliff.

Well, it was somewhere between sliding and falling, since the cliff was almost vertical.

He descended at almost terminal velocity. If he didn't stop, he would hit the waterfall, as well as certain death, in less than ten seconds.

Ash's body was getting scraped and cut by the sharp, jagged rocks on the surface as he tried frantically to stop and hold onto something.

About a hundred feet below, his hand grabbed the foothold that he had used to judge his height a few minutes ago. He felt his arm pop out of its socket, but even with a dislocated shoulder, he knew he had to hold on.

He looked at his hand, which was now raw and red with covered with small wounds all over. He saw that one of his fingernails had broken while he was scaling the rocky cliff. His arm was in a similar condition; there were many cuts, with a couple of big, open wounds.

He let out a few grunts, popped his arm back in, and began climbing again, this time at an even slower pace.

This time, he never looked up, but just kept on scaling the cliff in a steady pattern.

After a seemingly infinite period of time, his hands did not make contact with rough rocks, but with something soft.

Suddenly guided by a burst of energy, Ash pulled his weary body over the top of the cliff, and saw a grassy field, moist with the morning dew.

Ah... the sweet scent of grass. After experiencing the smell of fire followed by the scent of cold water, he never thought that anything smelled so good. Not even the smell of Brock's cooking or the smell of Erika's perfume could match the sensation that he was experiencing now.

Like this grassy field, many took good things for granted. It took a series of unfortunate events like this to show that life really is beautiful.

Still, he was alive. He was alive! His eyes were brimming with tears of joy and relief.

He had been close to death four times, and had managed to emerge mostly unscathed. He was sure that Lady Luck was on his side today.

He also cursed under his breath that he would learn how to do mountain climbing sometime in the near future, so that he wouldn't have to work his hands raw doing it.

He was too tired to think of anything else, though. Not only was his body tired, but his brain needed a rest, too.

Exhausted by the crazy events in the past few hours, Ash drifted off into a deep slumber.

* * *

**2laZ2login (Ch.2: A/R)** – Thank you, for the first favorable review on this story. Yes, I do admit to having used a lot of detail. Please be patient, as more is coming on the way. ANONYMOUS REVIEWER

**Sir Exal (Ch.2)** – Thanks for the first favorable signed review. As replied to the above reviewer, I confess to being a writer of massive detail. However, detail was one of the points about Pokémon Master that I liked so much; the fight scenes almost came to life with the vivid descriptions. I may have overdone it, however, and I will work to restrain it a little in the future. There is also a specific reason that I chose not to use very little dialogue. Since this section is a prologue, this is meant to be more of a picturesque glimpse into what happened before the actual plot. Thanks for pointing that out. And you have my word that this story will be serious... very serious indeed. NEW REVIEWER

**TheWhiteMonk (Ch.2: A/R)** – Curious, eh? That's exactly how I felt when I was waiting for Pokémon Master to come out, about 4 years ago. I will take the remark about my spelling and grammar as a complement, so thank you for that. And by all means, please go read Pokémon Master! Like this story, the aforementioned story is very descriptive. I promise that I won't let you down on your expectations of a good story. ANONYMOUS REVIEWER

**unknown (Ch.1: A/R)** – So you've read Pokémon Master, too. Yep, I think the same on that story as you do. I've probably read that story about 6 times through now, and I always find something new. I also see that the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter got your attention. Don't worry, events will unfold, and everything will be explained in due time. ANONYMOUS REVIEWER

**The Name (Ch.2)** – Hey again, SH. Thanks for submitting another review that sounds a bit more intelligent-sounding than the last. As I said before, the dialogue will come later, probably when the Prologue is over. And I'm glad you like the details, and that you want me to continue. SIGNED REVIEWER

**Kwa (Ch.2: A/R)** – Another piece of constructive criticism. Thank you for reviewing. I can certainly see why you agree with Farla's comment. However, I think that you should be a little more careful when you label things as "story" or "non-story." The opinion that the first post is not part of the story is only your own opinion, and does not reflect how others think. As in my reply to Farla's review, I consider the first post an important part of the story. A story does not necessarily have to be told entirely in narrative. The first post was inspired by something similar that I saw on this website, and to my knowledge, that story has not been taken down. I will also make it clear that I do not plan on combining the first two chapters into one, as you suggested. The "Prologue" itself will be divided into several chapters that will be posted separately, as will the chapters of the parts of the actual story. Let me point out that I did same in a similar story about two years ago, and did not get into any trouble with However, I still thank you sincerely for your suggestion. ANONYMOUS REVIEWER

**wHaTeVeR (Ch. 1: A/R)** – Thank you for reviewing. I appreciate that you are defending my position against those who criticize it. And you are right; although things may not make much sense in the beginning, it will all come to a logical conclusion at the end. As much as I thank you for your support, I also do wish that you would be a bit less aggressive against criticism. And I have mentioned somewhere in the answers to the reviews, that spoken parts will be coming later, probably after the Prologue is finished. ANONYMOUS REVIEWER

* * *

Hey, everyone. This is Sacrifice Eternal. A lot of information to take in during this part, eh? This chapter may take more than one reading to capture all the detail and events. And there's no cliffhanger this time, as you can see. Whether that's good or bad, I'll leave the choice up to you.

And I do apologize for the slow update... I'm in the middle of end-of-term exams right now. My goal is to eventually post one chapter a week, and more frequently if possible.

Many reviews on the previous chapter were posted, some with praise, some with criticism. As I have said before, reviews are welcome, even constructive criticism. At least the person who gives constructive criticism shows that he or she is paying attention to this story. Thanks for reading!

-ENDLESS ROAD-


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